A former University Distinguished Professor died last week.
    Kenneth Hoyt died of natural causes in Urbandale, Iowa. Hoyt was 84 and is survived by his wife and three children.
    Hoyt was the College of Education’s only University Distinguished Professor while at K-State. The title of University Distinguished Professor is given only to a select few professors and was awarded to Hoyt when he arrived at K-State in 1984.

WORK IN CAREER EDUCATION
    Hoyt spent most of his 20 years at the university researching and writing about career education.
    “He came to us with an international reputation as the father of career education,” said Michael Holen, dean of the College of Education.
    Career education is the discipline of educating students for a career rather than focusing solely on academic curriculum, Holen said. The fundamental notion of career education is linking education and work together instead of thinking of them as two separate entities.
    “That was his area, and that is what he was focused on,” said Professor of Special Education and Counseling Ken Hughey. “He was very knowledgeable about the field and very, very professional.”
    Through his work with the field of career education, Hoyt was able to secure a $3.3 million grant in 1992 for a project called Counseling for High Skills. The grant promoted the assessment of career education capabilities of community colleges and universities across the county, Holen said.
    “It was something that he was very, very focused on,” said Hughey, who worked with Hoyt managing the grant for six years.
    “The focus of a great majority of his career was working with students to help them develop skills for the workplace.”

PIONEERING THE FIELD
    Before Hoyt came to K-State, he was a professor at the University of Maryland and University of Iowa. He also worked for the U.S. Department of Education.
    “In the early 1970s, the U.S. Department of Education created a career education program that was intended to ensure that everyone who went through schools had some understanding of the connection of schooling and the world of work,” Holen said. “Dr. Hoyt was considered the nation expert in that and directed the Office of Career Education for the U.S. office of education for many years.”
    Hoyt was also responsible for writing the definition of career education that the U.S. Department of Education still uses.
    Pioneering the field of career education made Hoyt a national authority in the field of counseling as well. He served as the president and a long-time executive board member of the American Personnel and Guidance Association, the nation’s primary guidance association.
    After Hoyt retired from K-State in 2003, he moved to Iowa to be closer to his family as his health was diminishing, Holen said. 
    Even after he retired, Hoyt continued to do some work in the field he helped to develop.
    “He had continued to do some work since his retirement, but his health restricted his activities, and we were sorry to see him pass away,” Holen said.